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How to Get Rid of Debt

One thing that is true about debt is that it is easy to accrue but very difficult to get rid of. It often snowballs and gets out of control and you are faced to figure out what to do. Most people will visit a financial professional to come up with a plan of how to tackle the issue at hand. Some people come up with a goal to demolish their debt on their own. Below are some tips and examples of how you can tackle your debt.

Snowball

One method of paying off debt is the snowball method. It is a debt reduction strategy that focuses on paying off the small balances first while paying minimal payment on the larger debts. The idea is that as soon as the first debt is paid off use the freed-up payment amount to pay down the next debt even faster. Continue the process (building like a snowball) until all debts are paid off. There are calculators to help you determine the method to use based about all of your debt products and debt amounts. It is simply a calculation that can be performed at home.

Avalanche

Debt avalanche method is the opposite of the snowball method. It focuses on the debts with the highest interest rates first. It will allow you to repay debts in the shortest time and will save you the most money on interest. It wants you to pay off the accounts with high interest because they do not want you to waste your money on interest when it could be going towards your debt repayments.

Refinancing

Besides just chugging along and paying off debt, it is also a good option to refinance your debt. Things such as mortgages, student loans, business loans or credit cards can all be refinanced. Refinancing means to have your debt product reassessed a new rate. This will help you in the long run because it could save you money that is to be paid on interest. You can shop around to find the best rate at different institutions. You could also save money by refinancing and redoing your life insurance

If debt is making you lose sleep, the only other option is to make more money to put towards your debt repayment. Obviously this is easier said than done because if extra cash was accessible than you wouldn’t have the debt. But you can try to get additional cash to pay off debt by additional supplemental income, a change of profession, or an investment. Things such stocks, mutual funds, real estate, life insurance, etc. are all good examples of sources of additional funds.

By using the avalanche or snowball debt repayment strategies, refinancing, or earning some extra cash, hopefully these helpful hints will help you tackle your debt.